Absolute Unit

2017catchphraseclassic

Absolute Unit is a Twitter catchphrase used to caption photos of unusually large people, animals, or objects, framed with mock British reverence. It started with a December 2017 tweet about a stout British hotelier and peaked in April 2018 after a UK museum posted an archival photo of an enormous ram.

catchphrase memesbritish memestwitter memessnowclone memesbody image memes

Overview

Absolute Unit is a catchphrase used to caption pictures of unusually large people, animals, or objects, usually written as "In awe at the size of this lad. Absolute unit"1. The word "absolute" pulls double duty as a British lad-culture intensifier, the same slang register that gave English speakers "absolute madman" and "the absolute boy"1.

Applied online, the label stretched past its original meaning. A stuffed Pikachu, an oversized snowman, a fat cat from Neko Atsume, and a hefty ram have all worn it1. The joke lives in the mismatch between the reverent phrasing and whatever ridiculous subject the poster has framed4.

How It Spread

Within two weeks the phrase was on the move. On December 22, 2017, journalist David Roth applied it to Wyatt Koch after his infomercial for a shirt brand went viral3. In early January 2018, @baucesauce used it on an overstuffed Pikachu doll for over 5,000 retweets, and @Papapishu tagged an enormous snowman a few days later3. Daily Dot's write-up and an /r/OutOfTheLoop explainer thread pushed the joke past Twitter's early adopters1.

The meme jumped tiers on April 9, 2018, when the Museum of English Rural Life tweeted an archival photo of a very fat ram with the words "Look at this absolute unit"5. The post cleared tens of thousands of retweets in three days, and program manager Adam Koszary followed up with a scan of the ram's pink index card the next morning5. On April 17, Elon Musk replied to an MIT Technology Review tweet by declaring "I'm an absolute unit too" with the ram photo attached, then swapped his own Twitter avatar for the ram and set his bio to "absolūt unit"2. The MERL account trolled back by renaming itself "TheMuskeum of ElonglishRural Life" and switching its picture to Musk2. In May 2019, Koszary announced he was joining Tesla as social media manager, a hire The Guardian tied directly to the ram tweet2.

How to Use This Meme

The formula is simple: pair a photo of something surprisingly large with a caption in the "look at this absolute unit" style, often prefaced with "in awe at the size of this lad"1. Subjects typically range from farm animals and plush toys to celebrities and vehicles, and the humor works best when the tone stays deadpan and mock-reverent4.

Frequently Asked Questions

Absolute Unit

2017catchphraseclassic

Absolute Unit is a Twitter catchphrase used to caption photos of unusually large people, animals, or objects, framed with mock British reverence. It started with a December 2017 tweet about a stout British hotelier and peaked in April 2018 after a UK museum posted an archival photo of an enormous ram.

catchphrase memes british memes twitter memes snowclone memes body image memes

Overview

Absolute Unit is a catchphrase used to caption pictures of unusually large people, animals, or objects, usually written as "In awe at the size of this lad. Absolute unit"1. The word "absolute" pulls double duty as a British lad-culture intensifier, the same slang register that gave English speakers "absolute madman" and "the absolute boy"1.

Applied online, the label stretched past its original meaning. A stuffed Pikachu, an oversized snowman, a fat cat from Neko Atsume, and a hefty ram have all worn it1. The joke lives in the mismatch between the reverent phrasing and whatever ridiculous subject the poster has framed4.

How It Spread

Within two weeks the phrase was on the move. On December 22, 2017, journalist David Roth applied it to Wyatt Koch after his infomercial for a shirt brand went viral3. In early January 2018, @baucesauce used it on an overstuffed Pikachu doll for over 5,000 retweets, and @Papapishu tagged an enormous snowman a few days later3. Daily Dot's write-up and an /r/OutOfTheLoop explainer thread pushed the joke past Twitter's early adopters1.

The meme jumped tiers on April 9, 2018, when the Museum of English Rural Life tweeted an archival photo of a very fat ram with the words "Look at this absolute unit"5. The post cleared tens of thousands of retweets in three days, and program manager Adam Koszary followed up with a scan of the ram's pink index card the next morning5. On April 17, Elon Musk replied to an MIT Technology Review tweet by declaring "I'm an absolute unit too" with the ram photo attached, then swapped his own Twitter avatar for the ram and set his bio to "absolūt unit"2. The MERL account trolled back by renaming itself "TheMuskeum of ElonglishRural Life" and switching its picture to Musk2. In May 2019, Koszary announced he was joining Tesla as social media manager, a hire The Guardian tied directly to the ram tweet2.

How to Use This Meme

The formula is simple: pair a photo of something surprisingly large with a caption in the "look at this absolute unit" style, often prefaced with "in awe at the size of this lad"1. Subjects typically range from farm animals and plush toys to celebrities and vehicles, and the humor works best when the tone stays deadpan and mock-reverent4.

Frequently Asked Questions